Ross Biggam, Director General ACT, commented: “After strong resistance against the text in particular from national cultural ministries, we congratulate the Commission for having come up with a balanced and workable text. It would have been helpful if further details had been maintained, but we understand that in line with the Brussels policy-making process a compromise had to be found. However, the real work will now begin with the implementation of the new obligations contained in this text by the Member States. ”.

Angela Mills Wade, Executive Director EPC, said: “The ongoing economic crisis puts into stark relief the ever greater need to provide rules for fair competition between commercial and publicly-funded players in the media business. For the private media companies the introduction of ex-ante scrutiny for new ventures which can play havoc with our online and mobile services and the need for an independent control body are the most important milestones, which will help to prevent future distortion of competition in the market. To be truly effective though, and in line with the Amsterdam Protocol control bodies should be independent from the management of the public service broadcaster".

While it is up to the Member States to define the remit and financing of the public broadcasters in their markets, the Communication gives clearer guidance as to how the Member States should effectively do this.

When commenting on this matter, Frederik Stucki, Secretary General AER, highlighted: “We welcome the recognition of the essential role played by private media. We indeed offer a wide choice of content which enriches the cultural and political debate. It has been important to clarify that public broadcasters should comply with qualitative requirements”.

The text has been discussed among the EU institutions over the last months and stakeholders had the opportunity to give their input during two consultations. The text gives guidance to Member States on how to ensure compliance with state aid rules to public broadcasters.

Tobias Schmid, Vice President VPRT & Vice President Media Policy at RTL Television Germany, stressed: “With the adoption of this text the Commission has taken an important step forward, which will help to clarify issues beforehand and might thus lead to fewer actions being taken to Brussels. In Germany the application of the ex-ante test has started and it will be important to ensure that this is carried out in an efficient and transparent way for all parties”.

Valtteri Niiranen, Director ENPA, said: “All Member States - large as well as small - now have a major role to play in order to better define the remits of the publicly funded broadcasters in detail in national legislation to prevent significant distortion of the media market. Newspaper publishers and their associations are engaged in individual cases regarding publicly funded broadcasters’ activities before the EU Commission and with a clearly defined scope of activities of the publicly funded broadcasters in both small and large Member States, all parties could also avoid these lengthy processes”.